Saturday
SS4: Sordo and Latvala joint fastest
Dani Sordo and Jari-Matti Latvala set the same fastest time through Friday’s opening stage, ending Sebastien Ogier’s run of wins and setting the scene for a fascinating strategic battle during today’s all-asphalt competition.
Overnight leader Ogier was first to tackle the stage in his Volkswagen Polo R, but judging by his general demeanour at the finish control, it’s not a position he wants to be in by tonight, when the road order positions are decided for Sunday’s gravel stages.
“Sleeping all day, that’s my plan…” he joked. “I tried but I didn’t manage to go faster. It’s just my driving. It’s okay, but I’m not completely happy. I don’t know, the car was okay, maybe it’s the set-up..?” he said with a smile.
Latvala however felt it was too early to think about his Sunday options. “I’m going to drive stage-by-stage and at the end of the day, well, let’s see what we can do. There’s no other team strategy,” said the Finn.
Having dropped time deliberately on Friday night so he could monitor the progress of Volkswagens ahead today, Sordo was the fastest driver at the mid-point of SS3.
“The split said I was three seconds faster than Jari-Matti and, if that’s true, then it’s very strange that we ended with the same time,” the Spaniard explained. “My plan is to try and push hard, but I think it will be difficult to catch Jari-Matti because he is driving very well. The only thing we can do is go flat-out.”
Mikko Hirvonen was fourth fastest, 5.1sec slower than his Citroen team-mate Sordo, and feeling confident that he could unlock more speed from his DS3. “It’s okay but it was a lot more difficult to drive the car than it was yesterday. We made the set-up a little softer last night and maybe we went too far,” he said.
After struggling to find the right set-up for Friday’s stages, Ford Fiesta RS pilot Thierry Neuville was still confused when he arrived at the finish control after stage three. “I don’t know why, but I’m sliding everywhere, there’s no traction,” he explained. “I made a made a big push here but it’s not going right. I feel comfortable, but it’s not working.”
Neuville completed in the sixth fastest time and now lies fourth overall, 24.6sec off the lead.
Norway’s Andreas Mikkelsen is out of today’s competition after breaking the suspension of his Volkswagen Polo R. “We were nearing the end on a slow left-hand corner when the rear of the car slid wide,” he explained. “The wheel dropped into a ditch and hit a stone. Something is broken back there now.”
Mikkelsen and co-driver Mikko Markkula parked their car at the stage end, unable to fix the broken component.
click:
wrc.com/news/ss4
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SS5: Sordo win delights home fans
Dani Sordo claimed his second win this morning in a Citroen DS3 to climb to second behind Sebastien Ogier on the Rally de Espana leaderboard.
Huge crowds gathered at the El Molar hairpin to roar on the Spaniard and he responded by beating Ogier by 2.9sec. He moved ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala by five-tenths of a second and reduced the margin from Ogier to 6.5sec.
Constant braking and hard cornering on the smooth asphalt placed huge demands on brakes and tyres. Data from the finish line showed brake temperatures on some cars exceeded 600°C, while figures for the tyres were over 100°C.
Such extremes required competitors to manage their driving style, as Sordo explained. “I couldn’t push more because there’s too much grip and the car moved. I tried to push, push because I knew Ogier was close, but at the same time I wanted to save the tyres,” he said.
Ogier echoed his rival’s thoughts and apparently dismissed any prospect of playing tactics later today to engineer a better running position for tomorrow’s gravel tests.
“It was a long stage and you can’t push all the way with the tyres. I don’t want to calculate and slow down tonight, I just have fun in the car and we will see. I say again, I’m not scared to open the road tomorrow,” said the Volkswagen Polo R pilot. Bluff or not?
Latvala was third in another Polo R, despite feeling uncomfortable on a newly-laid asphalt section midway through. “It lasts for 6-8km and I didn’t drive well. It was slippery and I didn’t find a rhythm with my braking,” said the Finn.
Mikko Hirvonen and Thierry Neuville were split by a second in the stage, although Neuville’s Ford Fiesta RS holds the upper hand over Hirvonen’s DS3 on the leaderboard by 3.6sec. However, the Belgian is still perplexed at his lack of pace.
“I’m pushing to the maximum but there’s nothing I can do for the moment. I don’t know why I’m losing time. I feel like I’m driving well so we must look at the settings. There’s something strange but I have no idea,” he explained.
Evgeny Novikov rounded off the top six, more than 17sec ahead of Qatar M-Sport team-mate Mads Ostberg, who is gradually coming to terms with his Fiesta RS.
“It felt a bit better. It’s not even close to enough, but it’s going in a better direction and I feel more comfortable. We’ll try to work a bit more on the car and see if that can help us,” said the Norwegian.
Just behind was World Rally Car debutant Hayden Paddon, the Kiwi still struggling with the rhythm in his Fiesta RS. “When I push the car understeers and if I back off to compensate, I don’t carry the corner speed. It’s a fine line but I haven’t found the answer yet,” he said.
Jose Suarez and Pontus Tidemand, second and third in the JWRC standings, rolled their Fiesta R2s at the same point early in the stage. Neither continued but no injuries were reported.
click:
wrc.com/news/ss5
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SS6: Sordo and Latvala tie the lead
Dani Sordo and Jari-Matti Latvala share the lead of Rally de Espana at the midpoint of Saturday’s competition, the dueling pair tied on exactly the same time of 1hr 24:16.6s after the event’s opening six asphalt stages.
The pair were joint quickest through Saturday’s first stage, and were edging closer to overnight leader Sebastien Ogier until stage six, when a puncture for Ogier moved them both ahead, 31.4sec clear of third placed Thierry Neuville.
First to complete SS6, his Polo R’s left-hand front wheel missing a chunk of rim, Ogier joked with the waiting media about the time loss. “It’s just part of the strategy, I don’t want to open the road on Sunday,” he laughed. “The reality is just a puncture. It happened when we hit something in a cut on one of the corners. It must have been in the grass, we didn’t have it in our notes.”
Now sixth, and 46.8sec off the lead, Ogier’s puncture was a set-back but not a disaster in a day where being first comes with the disadvantage of running first on Sunday’s gravel stages.
“It’s interesting and adds another aspect to the rally,” pondered Latvala. “Now Ogier is behind us, but we don’t know how much the gravel will affect things tomorrow, so we don’t know what can happen. Can he still win? You never know… All I can do is keep pushing and see what happens.”
Sordo declared himself happy with his car and driving, and accepted that he was watching the pace of the Volkswagens very carefully. “I saw from the splits that Ogier had a problem. I’m sorry for him but it’s easy to get a puncture here. Now we’re in the same position where someone needs to be first, but nobody wants to be there...”
Asked about his afternoon strategy, Sordo said: “I don’t know. I don’t have one yet, we have to wait until almost the end of the day and see where Jari-Matti is.”
Thierry Neuville is now third, 31.4sec off the lead after a more encouraging stage in his Ford Fiesta RS. “This stage has exactly the same conditions that we had on our [pre-event] test so the car works fine. All the other stages so far we can forget about, we haven’t yet found a solution for those roads. I can’t push any more than I already am.”
Mikko Hirvonen is 9.1sec further back in fourth after a generally steady run in his Citroen DS3 WRC and a near-miss on SS3. “There were some rough sections in the corners and for sure we damaged our tyres, but luckily they held up,” he said.
Russia’s Evgeny Novikov is 5.9sec behind in fifth, after a trouble-free run in his Ford Fiesta RS. Ogier in sixth, more than a minute ahead of Mads Ostberg in seventh, the Norwegian reporting some progress in his search for a better handling set-up for his Fiesta RS.
Fiesta driver Martin Prokop is eighth, just ahead of Hayden Padden in a similar car, who had a lucky escape after glancing a rock face on SS6 and breaking a right-hand front wheel.
click:
wrc.com/news/ss6
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